CPD Theme 1: Rights to education
Find out about the global education context in which millions of children are
missing out on school
Explore the issues using the five activity ideas below. Click on the linked text below to jump
down to any of the activities:
Rights to education: activity ideas

Education rivers

Why aren’t schools open for everyone?

The cost of education

Walking in other teachers’ shoes

Local to global actions
Find out more…
Download our other themed CPD activity selections to explore these areas:
Theme 2: Learning about democracy and your pupils’ place within it
Theme 3: Creative ways to participate in Send My Friend to School and to help achieve change
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Theme 1: Rights to education activity ideas
Activity 1.1: Education rivers
Aim

To reflect on your educational journey so far.
Create a river showing your educational journey so far. Its characteristics – length, width,
current and direction – can take any shape or form. You can use flipchart paper and colours or
map its course on the floor or walls using a range of materials.
The source of the river marks a beginning, and its mouth shows where you are now and what
you are moving towards. Tributaries joining the river show people and ideas you have
encountered along the way. Challenges can be illustrated as boulders; changes and events as
waterfalls, rapids, islands and whirlpools; and reflective moments as calm waters.
You might focus on Send My Friend to School – when you or your school first encountered the
campaign; the impact it is having on teaching and learning in and out of school; connections
between these experiences and those of others; and how you imagine relationships unfolding.
Share your rivers with each other, questioning the significance of characteristics, and threading
patterns and influences.
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Theme 1: Rights to education activity ideas
Activity 1.2: Why aren’t schools open for everyone?
Aim

To consider the consequences of not going to school on young people’s daily lives.
Resources
 Film: ‘Two Girls Two Lives’
 Stories of children out of school: from the Send My Friend website
Watch the film about two girls born on the same day in Johannesburg, South Africa, where one
had the opportunity to go to school and one didn’t.
What is most vivid in your mind after watching this film? What are the connections between
poverty and education? What does the film make you feel comfortable / uncomfortable about?
Read a couple of the children’s stories. Have you learned anything you did not know before?
In pairs or small groups, draw a consequence wheel like the one below. Write the issue in the
centre circle, direct consequences in the circles linked to the main circle; second tier
consequences in the next circles; then third tier consequences linked to these. Create as many
circles as you like. You could colour code them according to whether the consequence is
perceived as positive or negative, or both.
Has your understanding of the consequences of not going to school changed in any way? How
might your beliefs influence your wheels? Why are these important to consider?
Read the stories and add these consequences, plus any questions you have, to the circles. Share
with colleagues.
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Theme 1: Rights to education activity ideas
Activity 1.3: The cost of education
Aim

To consider the costs of going to school and how issues related to these may be
explored in the classroom.
Resources
 Information sheet: Education For All
 Story: Zainabu’s story (below)
 Activity sheet: My education plan for Mount Kilimanjaro Primary School (below)
Discuss the ‘Education For All’ information sheet. What are some reasons for children not going
to school? How have these reasons changed overtime? Who has been involved in making
change happen and how?
In small groups, close-read Zainabu’s story and underline any reference to the cost of her going
to school. Circle each cost in different colours according to who you think pays, e.g. red for
Zainabu; green for her family; and purple for her government. Who do you think pays most /
least? How does this compare with your own situation? The following website shows how
money is raised and spent on public services in the UK: www.hmrc.gov.uk/educationzone/matters-classroom.htm
Create an education plan for Mount Kilimanjaro Primary School in Tanzania. Imagine you are
the headteacher. You have been given £15,000 by the Minister of Education to expand your
school to provide an education for 1,000 pupils in the area. Decide how to spend this budget by
drawing on Zainabu’s story and the educational plan activity sheet.
Each group prepares a 3-5 minute presentation outlining how they have spent the £15,000 and
why. Everyone else acts as the Ministry of Education putting the group in the hot seat.
Discuss together the challenges faced during this activity. What was the most difficult decision
you had to take? Which group’s approach was more effective and why? Finally, would you use
this activity with your pupils? How might you adapt the activity and why? What do you know
now that you did not know before? How could you bring this insight to working with pupils?
What difference might it make to their understanding of Send My Friend to School?
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Activity 1.3: The cost of education
Zainabu’s story
Zainabu lives in Tanzania. She has just finished primary school
and is hoping to go to secondary school. She has been doing
well at school but her family are very poor so it is a struggle for
her to stay in school.
It has been free to go to primary school in Tanzania since 2001
when school fees were abolished by the government. However
families still have to pay fees if they want their children to go to
secondary school.
‘I am living a very difficult life. My father left us when we were very young. My mother works as
a casual labourer on other people’s farms to get money to buy us food and to pay for other
things like medicine and school expenses.
‘For the past three years my mother has faced problems getting work. There has been a very
bad drought and this meant there is often no work for her. Whenever I ask her for money to
pay for school expenses such as buying school uniforms, shoes and exercise books my mother
can never afford it. The school also asks for contributions to pay for the cook, the caretaker and
the toilets. At the moment we owe the school £1.80 which we have been unable to pay. I am
under pressure to leave school to find work – my sisters tease me by saying that school is a
waste of time.
When I come home after school I also face difficulties. We often have to go to other people’s
houses to beg for food. We sometimes have to go to sleep without eating at all or just have
porridge as our dinner. I am also asked to go and fetch water for my uncle’s family, which takes
three hours, when I am supposed to go to school.
Education is important because it could change my life. Our house is in very bad shape and if I
got some money I would be able to fix it. Sometimes when it threatens to rain, we stay up all
night waiting for it to start. We try to block every hole in our walls and ceiling so the rain
doesn't fall on our bed. If I get my education, I could become a teacher or anything else I want. I
would build a home for my mother.
During my free time I like to read. Sometimes there is no oil for the light at home so we sit in
the dark and I sometimes use a candle to read. I think if my mother had gotten an education,
we would not be living in hardship now. One day, I would like to become a teacher.’
Photo © Kate Holt/Shoot the Earth/ActionAid, Text © ActionAid
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Activity 1.3: The cost of education
My education plan for Mount Kilimanjaro Primary School, Tanzania
You are in charge of Mount Kilimanjaro Primary School, Tanzania. The school is in the
countryside. Many families who live in the area find it hard to pay for uniform, shoes, books
and lunch. This means that some children don’t come to school every day and some don’t come
at all.
500 pupils are registered at your school. You have 9 classrooms and 8 teachers plus the head
teacher. This means that if all the children turn up to school, there is only one teacher for about
60 children!
Your task is to double the number of pupils at your school to 1,000 using an additional budget
of £15,000. Write or draw a plan for what you would spend the money on and why.
Item
Uniforms
Learning materials,
e.g. books, paper,
pencils
School dinner
Building a classroom
for 40 pupils (with
chairs and desks)
Teacher’s salary
Cost for one pupil
£4
£2.50
Cost for 100 pupils
£400
Cost for 500 pupils
£1.20
£1,350
£700 per teacher per
year
Task 1 Counting costs. Look at the table above. Add in the costs of uniforms, learning materials
and school dinners for 100 and 500 pupils.
Task 2 Budgeting. Next year you would like 1,000 pupils to come to your school. Your idea is to
encourage more families to bring their children by offering: free school dinners; free learning
materials and one teacher for every 40 children.
How much money will you need for one year? How can you achieve this goal with a budget of
£15,000?
Task 3 Persuasion! You have been given the chance to meet the Minister for Education. You
need to persuade them to give you enough money to encourage 1,000 children to come to your
school. How will you do this? Be as creative as you like!
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Theme 1: Rights to education activity ideas
Activity 1.4: Walking in other teachers’ shoes
Aim

To experience the challenges encountered by teachers’ in Kabiji Primary School, Nigeria
through role-play simulation.
Resources
 Information sheet: Every child needs a teacher: closing the gap (below)
 Activity sheet: Kabiji Primary School role-cards (below)
What are our challenges as teachers? In small groups consider three current challenges you
encounter as teachers in the UK. How might these be the same and different to the challenges
teachers’ encounter around the world? How do you know?
Browse the first two pages of the ‘Every child needs a teacher: closing the gap’ information
sheet and note three challenges encountered by teachers that you were previously unaware of,
e.g. lack of training opportunities in rural areas, large class-sizes, high student dropout rates,
low wages, partial or late payment, travel long distances to collect pay, and teacher absences.
Consider structures the UK has in place to do something about these issues, e.g. write to MP?
What rights to teachers in other countries have?
Imagine walking in the shoes of teachers, parents and pupils in Kabiji Primary School, Nigeria. A
representative from the Nigerian Ministry of Education has come to listen to your concerns as
they need help in deciding how to support the school to ensure children have the best possible
education.
Five groups respectively adopt the roles of pupils, teachers, parents, headteacher, and Ministry
of Education representative using the ‘Kabiji Primary School role-cards’ activity sheet.
Each group prepares presentations for the Ministry of Education representative, and present
arguments in an open debate. The representative visits each group during preparations and
while the debate is unfolding, summarises what has been said and decides on three actions.
How does this activity help you to connect with teachers around the world? How did debating
in character help you to experience the world through other people’s perspectives? What might
the educational advantages and disadvantages of debating another person’s viewpoint and
voice be?
In light of these discussions, consider how this activity might work with your pupils. How might
you adapt it for use in your classroom and why? What more could you do to support teachers in
Kabiji Primary School and elsewhere?
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Activity 1.4: Walking in other teachers’ shoes
Every child needs a teacher: closing the gap
Who is missing out on school?
 57 million children are out of school around the world.
 53% are girls.
 A third of the 57 million children have a disability.
 Over half of the 57 million children speak a different language than one spoken in
school.
Why are they missing out on school?
 Families can’t afford the school fees or to pay for the school uniform, books, or writing
materials.
 Almost 250 million children have to work to help their families.
 In rural areas, the school may be too far, travel to the school may be dangerous or too
costly.
 Many children drop-out of school because of poor teaching or poor buildings, a lack of
books, water or toilets.
How many teachers are needed?
 200,000 more primary teachers are needed in Nigeria.
 1 million teachers are needed in Africa.
 1.7 million teachers are needed around the world.
Country profiles:
Nigeria
 10 million primary school aged children are out of school.
 There are 600,000 primary teachers, 200,000 more are needed.
 1 in 4 teachers is ‘missing’.
Malawi
 Numbers of children per teacher range from 36 in some districts to 120 in others.
 In 10 out of 28 districts, the child teacher ratio is over 90.
 Malawi spends £34 per primary school child per year.
Pakistan
 Over 5.1 million primary school aged children are out of school.
 63% of them are girls.
 There is a teacher shortage of 62,000.
 1 in 8 teachers is ‘missing’.
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Activity 1.4: Walking in other teachers’ shoes
Kabiji Primary School, Nigeria
Pretend to be one of the five people/groups below. Prepare your arguments for the Education
Manager. Let each person/ group spokesperson speak in turn.
Vote on the 3 best actions which could help the most children get a good education. E.g. “Get
the government to ban school uniforms then more children can go to school.”
We’re the pupils
We’re the teachers
“We would like our friends to come to school.
They can’t come because they don’t have
money for books or uniform. They go hawking
instead to help their families to earn money.”
“We have at least 100 students in one class and
we cannot control them or teach them properly.
We need more classrooms.”
“We don’t have enough teaching materials to
use when we are teaching.”
“We wish the roofs would stop falling off!”
“There is no water at school. If we are thirsty
we have to go all the way home to drink.”
“Some children don’t come to school until after
the first lesson or during break time. When you
ask them why they say they went hawking or
were looking after siblings.”
I’m the head teacher
“We still have the problem of the library. The
ceiling has fallen down! Learners cannot go to
the library and read by themselves.”
We’re the parents
“I would love my daughter to go to school. I
know that she is missing out but we are poor
and can’t afford the uniform.”
“The water situation is terrible; 350 children
and we have no source of water.”
“It is hard to afford to send all our children to
school. Sometimes we don’t have enough
money to buy books and uniform.
“We need a school fence because
motorcyclists pass through the school when
children are playing – it’s dangerous.”
“Sometimes my daughter is late for school
because she has to go hawking at the market
first. Otherwise I can’t afford to send her at all.”
“We have nowhere for the children to play
safely outside. No field or space.”
I’m the Education Manager.
“I work for the Ministry of Education. I am visiting Kabiji Primary School to find out the problems
there.”
“My job is to try and make sure that all children go to school and get a good education.”
“I am here to listen to the children, parents, teachers and head teacher. I need their help to work out
the best way to help the school and local children. I need to decide on the three things we should do,
in order of importance, to help the most children get a good education!
9
This project is funded
by the European Union.
Theme 1: Rights to education activity ideas
Activity 1.5: Local to global actions
Aim

To explore connections between local and global actions.
Resources
 Information sheet: Local to global links
The ‘Local to global links’ information sheet clearly shows how a local action such as contacting
your MP has a direct impact on making sure every child in the world has an education. Consider
how you might draw on this information in your classroom. Would you, for example, cut out
the information boxes and arrows and ask pupils to arrange them in a flow diagram? Or, simply
remove the arrows, include a blank box, or create a human chain to show how people and
organisations are connected?
In small groups write your responses to the following questions and sentence starters on post-it
notes:




What I feel I and/or my school already does?
What I would like to get out of this activity?
If I could change education, I would …
We can make the world a better place by …
Plot your responses on to a diagram like this one:
Local
Injustice
Justice
Global
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This project is funded
by the European Union.
Activity 1.5: Local to global actions (contd)
Or this one:
Local
Social justice
Sustainability
Global
How are your responses distributed on the diagram? Are there any clusters and why, or why
not?
How would you use this diagram in your classroom? What does it bring to understanding
connections between local and global actions? How might it complicate connections between
local and global; justice and injustice; sustainability and social justice? Is this necessary in
education? How might these challenges bring new understandings to Send My friend To
School? How might this diagram help you to work with, against, or around these challenges to
ensure all children have an education?
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This project is funded
by the European Union.